Irish Independent Top 20 Players of the Past 50 years

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Look it's easy to extol the virtues of any player, the argument is where they should be placed. All 3 are great players. Are Mullins or Tomkins better than Cavanagh, Cooper or Fitz who they were selected higher? Was O'Rourke better than Joyce or his own county man and 2 time Footballer of the year Giles? No in my opinion and id think most rational opinions. Nothing against the 3 players who are all greats

Alot of people think only of the Colm O'Rourke of the 87-95 period. He was 30 years of age whem he won his first medal in 1987. Ulster lads revere Perter the great for for his 10+ years soldiering away before Tyrone won an All Ireland. O'Rourke was the Peter the Great of the 80's. 12 years on the Meath senior team before he won an All Ireland. Footballer of the year at 34 years of age. In the 87 final with a cork team all over them he scores the goal to get them back on track. 20 years a Meath senior player. Giles walked away O'Rourke played on until the bitter end and he was not even born in Meath.

Cananagh was a great player as was Joyce. And maybe we give the edge to players who played with successful counties, the Jack O'Shea's and the Pat Spillanes. But you look at the list and there is only one goalie, four midfielders, and four defenders, the rest are all forwards. Of the forwards there is four that played on the half forward line and seven are inside forwards.

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Never seen Connor play. Any games on the GAA website of him?

There is a very small clip of him here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snlHd8e7uKs

Mick McGraw wrote: »

I always favoured DJ to Shefflin, you could argue Shefflin was more effective than DJ but DJ was miles better to watch he was such an exciting player and he faced tougher competition as the team he had around him wasn't as good as the team Shefflin was on and the game was much more competitive in the 90's than it was during Shefflins career.

Both all time greats though so there's no wrong answer when picking between the two them.

Canning better than both, consummate, complete hurler. Shefflin not even best KK hurler of his era; JJ and Tommy Walsh just as consistent and more brilliant. Brian Lohan a better defender than Ollie Canning or Pete Finnerty? I think not.

mountgomery burns wrote: »

Yeah you wouldn't but when it comes to picking the best the likes of John Galvin, Gary Brennan, Declan Browne aren't going to topple your Brian Fenton, Gooch Cooper or Canavan in the end just because those are the fellas who you remember putting in the displays that won all-irelands

And though I agree you'd think he would have flourished but not having the evidence makes it harder to pick him, certainly if you're writing for a broadsheet sports column.

Agree. But it would imo be so wrong to leave his like out of the discussion.

Like it or not the county system we as the GAA inherited is inherently unfair. Some lads who are born superstars will never win nothing. That's not to say we can't recognise their greatness. Sometimes these lads have achieved more in winning nothing than fellas with AI medals.

Edit. Perhaps I should say while winning nothing rather than in winning nothing.

These things will always throw up surprises, but P. Joyce not making the best 15 is madness.

Mick McGraw wrote: »

Which of the top 15 would you remove so Joyce can be in it?

What other inside forward in the top 15 would you replace. Peter Canavan, Mickey Sheehy, Gouch, Michael Murphy, Maurice Fitzgerald or Colm O Rourke.

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

I'd have him ahead of Tompkins and O'Rourke without even thinking about it and unlike some of the older players I saw all those three play in the flesh.

But sure they'll always be quibbles over who's ahead of who in a list.

So O'Rourke will get him from 16th to 14th.... WOW. Tompkins was a totally different footballer. He could have played in any central position on the field from FB to FF. Have no doubt, Joyce was a great footballer but I not rate him in Tompkins class. TBH there is not much between himself and O'Rourke but O'Rourke probably shades it. Mainly due to the longevity of his career, success came late to him but he carried Meath teams from 1980 on to the successful era of the late 80's

LuasSimon wrote: »

Thought Maurice Fitzgerald might have a bit higher , wouldn’t have thought Jack o Shea was the best player of the last 50 years but when someone like Mick O Dwyer says he was the best midfielder he ever saw play the game it’s hard to argue with that . Did he even say the best player he ever saw play the game ??

I suppose never directly, but he did say that of all the players he saw Matt Connor was the one he have most liked to have on the Kerry 4in a row team

BloodyBill wrote: »

I'd have to question your sanity if you think Finnerty or Ollie Canning were better than Lohan. Ollie Canning was a superb ,tidy corner back. Finnerty a fair, thunderous wing back. Lohan was a level above both and actually destroyed full forwards lines and won games in Clare teams with average forwards.

Finnerty won 5 All Stars in 6 years, scarcely a shabby achievement. Lohan got a good runaround from a 17-year old Eugene Cloonan in the '97 club final, and was getting the same again in the '99 senior semi-final until he hit him on the head. Not to denigrate Brian Lohan but I'd have Seanie McMahon ahead of him always.

As for Joe Canning . A brilliant hurler when the mood takes him. He drifts in and out of matches. Destroyed by Hannon in the first half if the 2018 final. He was actually terrible until the 2and half. Shefflin deserves his spot at number 1 over JJ and Tommy Walsh if only for the reason that creating and scoring is harder that stopping and passing. Maradona over Beckenbauer.

As ever, an inaccurate analysis of Canning. As long as I've been watching him, he's never been subbed due to ineffectiveness and always produces something of value in his games. The 2018 season in particular was one of his best, better even than the preceding year. All players drift out of matches - e.g. Shefflin was largely anonymous for much of the 2009 final and the first half of the 2012 one. Maybe it's what players do in their purple spells of matches that matter, e.g. Shefflin 2nd half of 2012, Canning closing stages of Tipp 2017, 2nd half v Limerick the following year. Canning's scoring average from play is higher than Shefflins and is also a superb playmaker, as seen since his move to centre-forward. I've seen quite a few online comments from KK contributors who rated Walsh and Delaney as their best players of the glory era.